Lighter.



No. 845,461. PATENTBD FEB. 26, 190?.

J. W. HAMMOND.

LIGHTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. 1906.

g L9 w (UNITED ST TES PATENT, OFFICE.

COAL COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

LIGHTER.

nofs isnei.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1 atented Feb. 26, 1907.

' Application filed June 27, 1906. Serial No. 323,616.

To all whom, it n'my concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W; HAMMOND, a citizen 'of the United States, residing in Taunton, in the county of Bristol and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Lighters, of which thefollowing descr1ption, in connection with the accompanymg drawings, is a specification, like letterson the drawings representing like parts.

The present invention relates to a lighter and is embodied in a mechanical construction whereby at lighter can be unloaded to better advantage and with lessmanual labor than in constructions heretofore employed.

The invention is especially applicable to coal-lighters of the kind employed in coaling vessels, and the purpose is to obviate to the greatest possible extent the use 'of trimmersthat is to say, those who shovel the coal-the operation being mainly automatic throu hout and taken care of bytwo or more atten ants.

In accordance with .the invention the lighter is provided'with a tower at one end,

this tower being of skeleton framework, so that the house for the donkey-engines can'be located at the base of the tower, while the operators are provided with a stand or housing part way up the tower, where they can observe the operation of the grab-bucket which is used to convey the cargo from the hull of the lighter, The contents of the hull are removed by hoistin the same by means of'a grab-bucket, whic in accordance with the nvention is controlled by a trolley running on a trolleycom, which boom is ivoted to the tower, but free to swing lateral y upon its pivot, bemgsupportedat the opposite end u on-a frame on which it is free to slide. T e position of the trolley which carries the pulleys over which the controlling-cables for the grab-bucket run is controlled 1n the usual way by the'engine, and the grab-bucket 1s hoisted and drawn "up the trolley-boom to the point of discharge after having been lowered into the hold and filled. By this construction the entire-contents of the hold becomes accessible, since the grab-bucket each time it islowered can be-varied in position not only laterally, but lon itudinally, so that all the contents of the ho d can be removed without the manual laborof moving the contents to a position where the automatic grabbucket is accessible.

Figure 1 is aside elevation of a scow or lighter embodying theinvention, and Fig. 2 is a'partial top plan view of the same.

Referring to Fig. 1, the hull a of the scow or lighter is provided at one end with a tower b, which is arranged to support a trolleyboom 0, pivotally connected at 0 V with the tower and supported at the Op osite end upon the top of a frame d, which .is so arranged as to admit of alateral movement of the free end of the boom 0. The grab-bucket e is controlled by hoisting-r0 es at, which run over pulleys on a trolley w ich runs on the trolley-boom a, so that the longitudinal position of the trolley with relation to the boom can be determined, while the trolley, with the'grab-bucket suspended therefrom, can be held by the boom'to admit of the dumping of the contents of the grab-bucket 6 into a chute for any equivalent device for carrying away,

the material. It is obvious that a coal-car, as indicated in dotted lines, running on tracks rigged from thetower b to the final point of discharge, or an endless conveyer rigged in thesame way, or anyequivalent conveying device, might be substituted, all

these things,h owever, being common expedients and not forming any part of the present invention. A W i As best. indicated in Fig. 2, the boom 0 is provided with tackle connections C Whi0l1 run to the engine-house g on the deck of the lighter, so that the position of the boom, as

well as the operation of the bucket e, are under the control of one or more operators who may be located in a house h near thev top of the tower, where they can observe the operation of the bucket c, which is under their control. Assuming, therefore, that a cargo of coal is to be discharged from the lighter to a wharf or intothe hold of a vessel, it will be seen that nearly the entire contents of the hull of the lighter can be reached by the grabbucket e by controlling the lateral position of the boom 0 from side to side and the position of the trolley with relation'to the boom,

so that very little trimming is required to discharge the entire cargo from the lighter.

The actual mechanical connections between the end of the boom, the trolley which runs on theboom, and the hoisting apparatus for the grab-bucket e are not herein shown in detail, since they, do not depart in any way from similar devices now commonly in use, it being readily understood that these are merely cable connections connected by means of pulleys through the tower with the engine or engines in the house g.

I claim- 1. In a lighter, the combination with the hull; of a stationary tower located near one end thereof;;a stationary supporting member extending laterally across the hull near the opposite end thereof; a trolley-boom pivotally connected at one end with said tower, and supported at the other end on said sup-- port along which it is free to travel laterally,"

a trolley running 'on'said boom; a grab- 1 bucket, the position of which is determined by the position of said trolley; and means for producing a lateral movement of the outer end of said trolley-boom along said sta tionary supporting member, substantially as port for the free end of said boom at the opposite end of the lighter; a grabbucket, the

position of which is controlled by swinging said boom on its pivot; and an operators stand located near'the top of said tower, substantially as described. 1

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

- JOHN HAMMOND. Witnesses: 1 I

W. E. CovENEY, H. J. LrvERMoRE. 

